The Cold War

An Informational flyer on the Cold War

The Cold War

An Informational flyer on the Cold War

What was the Cold War?

The Cold War was long period of political tension between the United States of America and the Soviet Union. Both countries became superpowers after World War 2 and competed in various ways such as economically, technologically, and militarily. The tension in the Cold War was caused by the opposing political views of the two sides. The Soviet Union was a communist nation that wanted to spread its ideals to Europe and Asia. The United States was a leading democratic nation that wanted to spread its influence to Europe and Asia as well. This lead to a period of incredible heat between the two powers that threatened to boil over at any minute!

Containment

The USA sought to contain the spread of Communism at all costs. The USA feared that if one country became communist then another would and then another and the countries would become communist one after another like falling dominoes... this was called the Domino Effect. To counter the rising amount of communist nations that were allies with the Soviet Union, the United States joined NATO. NATO was a military alliance of democratic, capitalistic countries in North America and Europe. The Iron Curtain was a figurative yet ever present boundary in Europe. Drawn through the middle, countries west of the Iron Curtain were allied with the USA. Countries east of the curtain were alligned witht the U.S.S.R.

Political and Economic Policies

The Marshall plan was an American aid project designed to rebuild Europe after WWII. The United States spent 13 billion dollars on rebuilding Europe. The Truman Doctrine was a policy set in place to stop vulnerable countries from becoming communist. The United States was ready to take action to stop the influence of communism from spreading to places like Korea and Vietnam. NATO was a military alliance of North American countries and Western European countries with similar political and economic views. It was a direct response to the Warsaw Pact of nations under Soviet Influence.

Competition leads to tension

The USA ad U.S.S.R were in direct competition. The Space Race was the competition of the two in Space technology. Although it was a big deal in terms of pride for each side, both also felt that their national security could be breached by satellites made to spy and rockets fitted with nuclear weapons. The Space Race was a big tension builder in the Cold War because both sides knew the power that having technology gave them. The Cuban Missile Crisis arose when the Soviet Union decided to store NUCLEAR missiles in Cuba, which is very close to the United States and some of its important cities. This was Brinkmanship. Brinkmanship was a policy both sides used to get what they wanted by threatening war. In response to the Cuban Missiles. The Invasion of the Bay of Pigs was an invasion of 1,500 trained Guerrilla troops designed by the USA to overthrow Fidel Castro's tyrannous reign in Cuba. The mission was a failure resulting in all of the troops being killed or captured. Eventually, the Soviet Union removed its missiles from Cuba because a Nuclear War would have endangered all man kind.

Containment

The USA sought to contain the spread of Communism at all costs. The USA feared that if one country became communist then another would and then another and the countries would become communist one after another like falling dominoes... this was called the Domino Effect. To counter the rising amount of communist nations that were allies with the Soviet Union, the United States joined NATO. NATO was a military alliance of democratic, capitalistic countries in North America and Europe. The Iron Curtain was a figurative yet ever present boundary in Europe. Drawn through the middle, countries west of the Iron Curtain were allied with the USA. Countries east of the curtain were alligned witht the U.S.S.R.

Political and Economic Policies

The Marshall plan was an American aid project designed to rebuild Europe after WWII. The United States spent 13 billion dollars on rebuilding Europe. The Truman Doctrine was a policy set in place to stop vulnerable countries from becoming communist. The United States was ready to take action to stop the influence of communism from spreading to places like Korea and Vietnam. NATO was a military alliance of North American countries and Western European countries with similar political and economic views. It was a direct response to the Warsaw Pact of nations under Soviet Influence.

Competition leads to tension

The USA ad U.S.S.R were in direct competition. The Space Race was the competition of the two in Space technology. Although it was a big deal in terms of pride for each side, both also felt that their national security could be breached by satellites made to spy and rockets fitted with nuclear weapons. The Space Race was a big tension builder in the Cold War because both sides knew the power that having technology gave them. The Cuban Missile Crisis arose when the Soviet Union decided to store NUCLEAR missiles in Cuba, which is very close to the United States and some of its important cities. This was Brinkmanship. Brinkmanship was a policy both sides used to get what they wanted by threatening war. In response to the Cuban Missiles. The Invasion of the Bay of Pigs was an invasion of 1,500 trained Guerrilla troops designed by the USA to overthrow Fidel Castro's tyrannous reign in Cuba. The mission was a failure resulting in all of the troops being killed or captured. Eventually, the Soviet Union removed its missiles from Cuba because a Nuclear War would have endangered all man kind.

Korean and Vietnam Wars

The Korean war resulted from an invasion of the North Koreans, Soviets and Chinese on the southern part of Korea south of the 38th parallel. The southern force lead by the South Koreans, Americans, and British fought the Northern force to a stalemate. Neither side won, but rather a cease fire was signed. The Vietnam war was a war of similar circumstances. The communist influence was spreading to South Vietnam. The American containment policy obligated the United States to allocate forced to stop the spread of communism. There is no clear winner of either war but politically, the Vietnam war was won by the communist regime who eventually ruled all of Vietnam.

Iron Curtain/ Berlin

The Iron Curtain was a figurative, yet ever present boundary between the Democratic and Communist governments in the world. The Iron Curtain split Europe in half, the countries aligned with the US.S.R in the Warsaw pact were in the east while NATO countries were in the west. After WWII, Berlin, which was the capital of then occupied Germany, was split into two parts The Eastern part was occupied by the Soviets, and the western part occupied by the British, Americans, and French. The Berlin wall separated the two sides. In the east, many people were starving, and had little opportunity. Since the Soviets wouldn't let the NATO aligned countries into their part of Berlin, the USA had to drop food and supplies from planes. This was the Berlin airlift

Other Events

When

Sunday, April 19th, 5:45pm

Where

U.S.S.R, USA, Berlin

More information

The U-2 incident was an event that built a lot of tension between to two belligerents of the Cold War. An American CIA spy plane was shot down in Soviet territory. This resulted in a failed cover up by the United States and more distrust between the two sides. The Eisenhower doctrine was similar to the Truman doctrine. In President Eisenhower's speech, he declared any country in the Middle East could request United States military assistance if it were being threatened by another country militarily. This doctrine was designed to keep the communist influence out of a region of many vulnerable countries. McCarthyism was a period of high distrust and fear in the United States. United States senator Joseph McCarthy began to make rash, negative accusations of numerous individuals. Many people during this trying time believed him. Senator McCarthy was able to gain merit in congress that actually assisted him in finding and eliminating communists within the USA McCarthy's rashness eventually lead to his downfall and soon after death